An interview with Tracey Bradley, Assistant General Manager, Waratah Wynyard Council, Tasmania
While Tracey Bradley believes amalgamation is more of a political tool than a solution to the challenges most councils face, she has confidence that informal resource sharing will have broad implications into the future and deliver benefits that cannot be ignored.
She said that community expectations are shifting and residents want to see their councils delivering more than just roads, rates and rubbish services.
“In Tasmania, the water and sewage loss has made Local Government step back and reassess our place and relevance with regard to what councils are involved in, what they are good at and what the community wants them to do,” Tracey Bradley said. “In some areas, councils can deliver services better than any other organisation or level of government. We coordinate, facilitate and deliver well, because we are on the ground and know the communities we are dealing with. We are also effective because we have the infrastructure on the ground to support the physical aspect.
“But in the future, we will have to take a more targeted and cooperative approach in applying for funding to support these services, whether it be on a regional or cross council basis.
“There are generous benefits involved in working together – some that lead to increased sustainability and others that lead to best practice initiatives and solutions.”
According to Tracey, the three key challenges that councils will face into the future are sustainability, infrastructure maintenance and skills shortages.
She said that while councils look after a lot of infrastructure, there is always pressure to build more, rather than maintain what they have.
“Councils are gaining more and more infrastructure and assets that need to be maintained, but we are not receiving the resources to do so,” she said.
“Local Government tends to do well in leveraging off the limited resources it has, using other funding and in kind community support to punch well above its weight. This will become even more important in the future and a collaborative approach will give us that extra edge.”
Tracey Bradley said the skills shortage will also continue into the future.
“Local Government has done great things in developing its career opportunities and is in a prime position to provide what people want in a career,” she said. “It offers career advancement that most organisations couldn’t dream of. For example, you could start out as a trainee and end up the general manager. It also provides skill recognition and development as well as flexible working arrangements.
“But most people have not really considered Local Government for their own career. We need to work together on this in the future and really get the word out about the great things we can offer.”
In terms of leadership, Tracey Bradley said that good managers must have high level communication skills to enable them to effectively communicate with a variety of people .
“The role of council staff is to implement the strategies of council through its motions and policies,” she said. “But the intent of a motion is not always clear and it is difficult to extract their true intent. As such, it is crucial that there is a good, strong working relationship between council staff and councillors and the key to this is communication.
“They must trust and respect each other so that both parties are able to determine exactly what they want to implement and how they want to achieve it.”
Tracey Bradley said the best way to motivate staff is to talk to them and spend time with them.
“They need to see that you are interested in what they are doing,” she said. “You must always be prepared to listen and take things on board, and most importantly, you must be prepared to participate.
“Managers are quite often referred to as aloof, and we must dispel this notion – don’t be afraid to roll up your sleeves and get in there and give it a go.”
